The present invention relates to sliding windows and windshields for vehicle closed bodies and more particularly for armored cars or other vehicles provided with windows or windshields made of heavy glass such as bulletproof glass and the like.
Vehicles such as armored cars, armored troop carriers, armored escort vehicles, combat tanks and the like are sometimes provided with fixed windshield and windows made of heavy bulletproof glass. Openings or ports through the body shell may be provided at different locations for aiming and firing diverse hand-held weapons. The firing port openings are generally in the form of vertical slits normally obturated by cover plates, when not in use, and they generally offer limited vision when uncovered, as they must be of a relatively narrow size to afford adequate protection to the crew. In addition to providing limited vision, the firing slits have a finite width which may be too wide or too narrow to provide passage for a firearm of a given size and they limit the aximuth angle of aiming of the weapon.
Windows for armored vehicles must necessarily be made of heavy blocks of bulletproof glass, capable of preventing penetration through the glass of at least small caliber bullets. However, even if originally bulletproof, such block of glass may become somewhat damaged under combat conditions and, when cracked, they tend to obscure vision and then become relatively fragile and no longer bulletproof. For those reasons, armored cars and like vehicles are often provided with removable window blocks which are bolted from the inside over the body openings and which can be replaced by the crew when damaged. However, when mounted such as to cover the body openings, each glass block is held in a fixed position, thus preventing ventilation of the interior of the vehicle through the openings, and requiring that weapons be fired only through the firing slits.
The present invention remedies the inconveniences of the prior art by providing slidable windows and windshields which normally obturate the openings in the body shell of an armored vehicle, but which can be easily and manually slid to an open position, providing an aperture of adjustable width permitting to use the aperture as a firing slit for weapons of various sizes. The portion of the bulletproof glass block or pane registering with the remaining of the opening in the body shell provides considerable peripheral vision for the occupants of the vehicle, while still protecting them from direct hit from the outside. Furthermore, the invention contemplates providing clamping means for adjustably holding securely the block or pane of bulletproof glass in any partially open position, such that the firing slit thus provided may be precisely adjusted as a function of the size of the weapon in use and the aiming swing required. In addition, the present invention provides a simple and easily disassembled support or mount for a framed block or pane of heavy bulletproof glass such that damaged windows or windshields can be rapidly and easily replaced by the crew.